War in Ukraine explained in English. Please spend 27 minutes to watch this video, because it is really very good.

This feels increasingly like 1984.

I can never see these videos when they are linked like this on EF.

I used to, but not for may weeks. Something is broken, I suppose.

Stopping war by starting war. Very Orwellian.

To me vice versa. I can only see them when they linked this way (if you delete everything except video ID from the link).

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ4hvLqNfqo

Works fine for me. Win 10, Chrome.

The following from a Russian friend.

Dear subscribers and guests of the channel! The war continues. We hope that everybody understands that the real war where about twenty thousand people from both sides have already died for eleven days, is the realization of the schizophrenic ideas of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The war started and is going on by order and decision of Vladimir Putin. Now Putin finds himself facing a choice that is not easy for him and for the world at large. We have said recently that there are only three main options. The first one is to actually end the military operation in Ukraine and to declare the current result a victory, saying that the military infrastructure and most of the military facilities in Ukraine are destroyed and it will take many years to rebuild, the LDPR is now untouched and there is nothing to reclaim the Crimea. But this option carries significant costs for Putin in the form of unclear results for both his entourage and the Russian people in general. An ostensible victory will not cover the collapse of the economy after the imposition of sanctions by the US, the EU, Japan and several other countries, which no one is going to lift in the next few years. Perhaps most of Russia's citizens have not yet realised, but Russia's economy as it was in the pre-war sense is simply no more. There are convulsions and all the signs of the beginning of decay, but this is the beginning of the end and not in the figurative, but in the direct and inevitable sense. Dissatisfaction with the total impoverishment of the population can be managed with repression and bans for a while, but that will only delay the end and inevitably lead to the destruction of the system and the collapse of the country. This option does not inspire Putin very much, already because abandoning initial plans for full control over Ukraine will be perceived by his entourage as a weakness and will threaten his power when the entourage, determined to get rid of the burden of sanctions, decide to save themselves and, if the country succeeds, simply remove him from decision-making. Putin is well aware of that. The second is to increase the number of troops and armaments and to implement his plans. But here too there are costs, first of all the huge number of casualties on both sides, including the civilian population of Ukraine. For the full implementation of this option it is necessary to declare mobilisation, for which a plan is already ready with shelling by Ukraine of civilians in Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions, and in this case of course Putin will declare martial law and mobilisation. "Victory" in the end is possible, but the cost will be hundreds of thousands of lives and in this option of course he will not stop at Ukraine. "Success" will be developed, as he was going to do in Moldova, the Caucasus and the Baltics. Ukraine alone in this case is undoubtedly not enough to justify what is happening.

But there is a third variant - the use of nuclear weapons, when the economy will be no longer to be turned around, and the victory will either be total and indisputable, or everyone will die.

We don't just talk about the theoretical options, we KNOW AND RECOMMEND that these options are being considered by Russian President Vladimir Putin at meetings with military and security officials and during his consultations and talks with people in his inner circle. We also know that the latter two options are mainly being considered. And in terms of choices, things are aggravated by the fact that Putin is terminally ill. He has cancer at a stage where there is no chance of recovery. We have covered Putin's health problems on more than one occasion, with diagnoses. Our regular subscribers and guests have seen that we give accurate and reliable information.

So, we appeal to all servicemen, employees of power structures, prosecutors, judges, officials of all ranks. Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to realize his geopolitical ambitions at the cost of hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of lives. If nuclear weapons are used, the world will be brought to the brink of a global catastrophe and the destruction of all life. If you serve the regime, you are an accomplice to the crime and you are responsible for what happens. You cling to positions, titles, imaginary well-being, your own safety and that of your families, which supposedly guarantees loyalty to Putin's regime. Remember, probably not for long anymore - corpses don't need ranks, positions, money or guarantees, and they don't need families, because both the second option and a nuclear war will destroy everything and everyone. The madness of a dying old man is ready to drown the world in blood, including your blood and the blood of your children and loved ones. Not to carry out criminal orders and, if possible, to block the criminal actions of the regime each in his place, this is the minimum you should decide to do in order to survive and save your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon be destroyed and power will pass to forces that will preserve the integrity of Russia and guarantee democratic procedures for the transfer of power. All those who commit crimes in the service of Putin and his regime by carrying out criminal orders and instructions will inevitably be punished. Refusing to commit a crime will make you a hero, a savior of your kin and homeland.

Russia will be free and prosperous - without Putin, without his regime and without war.

Deepl.com

__________________
Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

Russians already started to dismantle signs "Peace to the world" from the roofs of the buildings, that were left from the times of USSR. https://mobile.twitter.com/RumataEst...12406530932736

The world "peace" seems to be forbidden in Russia. Just like on this picture. There were many memes with this picture before with different writings, but nobody could have expected that the original of the photo would become reality.

Now I'm worried.

The embedded video has a "Youtube" link somewhere at the bottom. Using that you can open the clip directly, assuming you see that.

If that doesn't work for you, quote the post and extract the video ID from inside the YOUTUBE tag. Open any YT clip and replace the ID in the URL. The ID is the string at the end of the URL after the "?v="

Putin has declared Ukraine Russian territory at the start of the invasion.

Thus fighter jets launching from Nato territory risk being seen as an attack by Nato on Russia, probably will. Likewise implementing a no-fly zone, except there's no doubt with that.

It doesn't even matter whether you agree with the first part or not, all doubts and ambiguities are removed once the first Russian military plane has been shot down.
The number of fighter jet pilots corresponds with the number of jets. Some pilots will survive getting their plane shot down but far from all. Sooner or later you have the same problems as with ICU personnel during the pandemic: the pilots will become the bottleneck. Probably sooner rather than later.

Words of truth!

I see politicians in the West are getting 'hot under the collar' again about supplying Polish MIG-29's and SU-25's direct from Polish Air bases to Ukraine, irrespective of the fact that Ukrainian air force pilots will be flying them from Poland; despite all the anti-tank weaponry being sent direct to Ukraine in whats dubbed 'a Berlin Airlift' to Kyiv of such weapons.

Maybe the West could look at more innovative ways of supplying Stinger missiles to the Ukrainians by hiding them behind the headlights of BMW's ?

One can just Google the id…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a video of himself in his office in Kyiv Monday night, the first time he has been seen there since the invasion began on Feb. 24, which is very brave considering the rumours of assassination squads and the artillery bombardment.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday.
“We do have indications that corroborate the story that Russia is trying to enlist and recruit foreign fighters, which we find noteworthy that with more than 150,000 troops, a stalled military advance inside Ukraine, particularly in the north, that Mr. Putin has found it necessary to try to recruit foreign fighters for this war of his.”

He also said "A large Russian military convoy outside of Kyiv is “still stalled, it is still stuck.”

Finally the ruble has halved in value this year.

Have read somewhere that the Polish authorities promised they will make sure everyone will get in.
On the other hand Hungary had two moments when they decided to ask for biometric passports at the border, turning around even kids, and then gave up.
Unfortunately the war always shows this side of the humankind too, not only solidarity and welcomeness. Which is very real, but doesn't get in the press if it is not coming from the "right" place...
Also, keep in mind that this sort of discrimination can and does appear everywhere, including in those countries that are very vocal now. Refugees are very vulnerable persons everywhere.

There are even no any refugee camps in Poland, all refugees are being taken in families. Many people in Poland are hosting refugees at home now.

My Russian co-worker claims half the invasion-force is already wiped out.
Most of them elite fighters.



This would be great - except Putin still has a lot of options and none of them are very pleasant.


There's no way this is going to end well

True (and in other countries too), the idea was that the refugees of African and Indian, Middle-Eastern origins were pushed back or redirected to other borders by the Polish and Hungarian border guards, which is true as some incidents did happen.....but hopefully they won't happen again. Ukraine has quite a community of foreign students, businessmen etc.

What I don't like is to notice, yet again, the same language used in the Western media or publications like Al'Jazeera etc., where all these countries are put in the same box, whereas these sort of incidents happened only in 2-3 of them, UA included. No, not everyone has turned back the refugees of different origins.

Good news coming again. A second Russian General killed in action

This is the second General killed at the forefront of the military activities, which is extremely bizarre even by soviet standards. You don't send generals at the front, their job is to stay behind and command from there. Probably another sign of desperation among the soldiers and the Generals were there to probably understand and tackle the situation. Well, the Ukrainians tackled it for them